Podcast Show #7

Richard Barlow discusses his experience as a counter-proliferation intelligence officer with the CIA in the 1980s, his work for the Office of the Secretary of Defense under Dick Cheney, and his incredible journey in trying to stop the proliferation efforts of the now infamous A.Q. Khan. He talks about the ‘real politics’ involving our relations with Pakistan and the Congress’ role, the draconian State Secrets Privilege, current disheartening status of whistleblower protection laws, and more!

Richard Barlow worked as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) counter-proliferation intelligence officer in the 1980s. He learned that top U.S. officials were allowing Pakistan to manufacture and possess nuclear weapons, and that the A.Q. Khan nuclear network was violating U.S. laws. He also discovered that top officials were hiding these activities from Congress, since telling the truth would have legally obligated the U.S. government to cut off its overt military aid to Pakistan at a time when covert military aid was being funneled through Pakistan to Afghan Jihadists in the war against the Soviets. Barlow's response: to organize the first interagency efforts to go after the A.Q. Khan nuclear network, well before it spread nuclear weapons to Iran, North Korea and Libya. After engineering the arrests of Khan's nuclear agents operating in the U.S. in 1987, Mr. Barlow was sent by high levels of the CIA to testify before Congress, where he revealed that certain members of the Reagan administration had been misleading Congress. Barlow's efforts to enforce the law and tell the truth caused Congress to come within an inch of terminating aid to Pakistan. As a result, he was persecuted as a traitor by some cold warriors in the CIA and State Department, shutting down his operations and clouding his future in the Agency.

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Comments

Can't wait to see the new site/team you've lined up. Also a suggestion. Please allow a links section to others that could help get the word out. I won't name names. But in the past I've tried to link to several other progressive sites re: a wide range of issues. And nobody would ever do it.

If you were one of the few that did, I think it would really help. Just an idea.

T: We are getting there.I can't wait either; looking forward to working with these great journalists. But first: raising funds to cover their cost, increase BF interview series' frequency… By 'link section' what do you mean? Remember I'm still a stranger to the blog world;-)

"Link section" just means the tab that takes you a list of links. Or, on some blogs, people just list their links.

I saw something earlier today about the Hotmail/Gmail hacking case. The FBI can arrest 100 people involved in that. But they can't be bothered with petty things like blackmail, stealing nuclear secrets. I don't know what to say…..

In case you didn't know already. Be very careful as you post video clips to help plug Sibel's cause.Lots of the MSM are cracking down on major sites (You Tube being one). Also, some who are posting original material are being deleted for no valid reason. This can be anything from deleting the soundtrack or the video portion to deleting the entire clip. The latest examples:

Very good interview with PBC Sibel , I was especially impressed with your description of the alternative media (at or around the 1 hr 9 min mark) and what sometimes happens to their integrity after increases in readership and funding.

I think the only way to avoid this situation (absorbtion into the MSM sesspool) is to find one , maybe two large independent, wealthy financial donors to fund their journalistic endevours. Enough to hire a few good journalists , webmasters , etc…

Perhaps enough monies to acquire server time and licensing for a daily audio program. Of course the backing would have to be guaranteed and contractual, but that's nothing to be afraid of as long as a mutual understanding concerning content and procedure is followed. There has to be few multimillionairs in the world that would be receptive to such an endevour.

I found the interview of Richard Barlow not only boring, but very self serving of Mr.Barlow.

I don't doubt that he has been through the proverbial "mill" in his government position, but his interview shed little light about subjects that the interviewer asked about. When asked about 1990's possible nuke attack by Pakistan on India, Barlow goes into a tirade about HIMSELF.

Foreign and Domestics Enemies planned, prepared and executed 9-11. And a big shout out goes to the Royal Saudis, EX NSA Mikie H., the Company, Feds, Smirky and the Airport Screener who always had me take out my keys and small change purse and belt every time I flew pre 9-11.

Just listened to the Barlow interview. I declare, these are far and away the best intelligent listening fare I can find, and I have a premier list of sources (in favorite order, Kevin Barrett, Steve Lendman at Global Research, Scott Horton at Antiwar, and many others).

I wish Peter or Sibel had asked Richard Barlow if he knew or thought that the major leak by Torricelli and the subsequent criminalization of classified whistleblowing was colluded in advance.

So, are the Phone Companies, now part of the new Fusion Centers? The new Fusion Centers around the Country protecting US and our way of life. All of these centers are for US and should be viewed by all and we should all feel safe and secure as we view them protecting each and every one of US. God bless them and God bless America. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/att-doj-foia/comment-page-1/#comment-86606

Thanks for this podcast! This really clarifies one of our longstanding national mysteries here in the Netherlands, namely why the authorities didn't do anything about aq khan collecting documents. This was the official reason given by the then prime minister:—–Former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers, for example, has stated that in 1975 and 1986, the CIA requested that Dutch authorities not detain A.Q. Khan so that his activities could be monitored and other elements of this network, and their customers, identified.—–